Shadow's Gem
by Winged Lady Colette
Summary: Strange circumstance brings Maria back to Shadow. And even stranger circumstances are trying to take her away again. But this time, Shadow's not going to run away, he's going to face it head on. They will be together, or die trying. Main: ShadowxMaria Side: SonicxAmy, KnucklesxRouge. Etc.
1. Infiltration

**Author's note: I have always wanted to write a Sonic story. I am a huge ShadowxMaria fangirl and just never got around to writing it until I got the powerful inkling to do it today. Let me know what you think. Enjoy! Remember this is rated M for a reason!**

**Warnings: Nudity**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot.**

**Word Count: 2,999**

He spent a lot of time thinking about her. Especially when he got his memory back. Shadow lowers himself beneath the weeping willow, making him feel a little less sad. Well, it wasn't just plain sadness, it's more nostalgic sadness. He presses his back into the rough bark and closes his eyes. He can hear Rouge walking about nearby, on her phone yelling at someone.

Shadow thinks he heard a distinct, "I'm serious, Knuckles!"

Shadow folds his arms over his chest and leans back a bit more. It's wonderful to have memories, Shadow felt like half a hedgehog without them. Especially the memories of Maria. They hurt a lot to think about, but he felt a bit empty without that pain, without being able to recall her beautiful golden blond hair and big sapphire eyes. The way her smile crinkles the corners of her eyes and her nose. The way she laughs softly as if being too loud would bring about the wrath of angry scientists. The way she would always race Shadow, even knowing that he was so much faster then her, but then claiming to let him win when he did.

But most of all, he misses when, at the end of the day, she would crawl into bed and hold him tightly in her arms.

Those were the moments that made Shadow feel the most alive. At the end of the day, curled up in a warm bed with Maria's arms wrapped tightly around him, her head buried in his fur, occasionally stroking his back with her gentle fingers. She would sleep soundly, breathing deeply with a look of complete innocence and childishness. It was hard to believe that she was 10 years old. Still a child in human terms, but younger looking asleep then when she's awake.

Shadow would snuggle close to her warmth and listen to her deep breathing. Because her immune system was so bad, Maria would get the horrible chills at night. She would get as close to Shadow as possible and try and absorb his warmth.

She would tremble in the night and he would pull the covers over her shoulders and rub her skin, on her arms, legs, stomach, anything to create friction and keep her warm at nights.

Nothing kept them apart for long. Also because of her immune system, Maria would be in the labs, sick. When he could, Shadow would be by her side, holding her hand and listening to her raspy breaths or wheezing breaths. Holding her hand as she shivers uncontrollably even covered in multiple heating blankets or dabbing her forehead with a wash cloth trying to cool down her body when she sweats buckets, suffering from a high fever.

But then there were times when she was so weak, she couldn't have anyone not properly sterilized at all times in the room with her, he would sit in the observation room, looking in at her. She would be bed ridden next to the glass and they would touch through the barrier between them, looking at one another. Maria would look so frail and delicate but so incredibly beautiful to Shadow.

Shadow blinks slowly from his reverie to find himself smiling softly. It drops the moment he realizes it's there. There is a subtle pulsing pain in his chest when he thinks about Maria. Not all of the memories are back just yet, but there is enough for him to know what went on at the Space Colony ARK. How he met Maria, how she died, and how he felt about her even to this day.

His crimson eyes raise up to watch Rouge pacing back and forth. He would never admit it, but Rouge is probably the closest Shadow has had to a friend since Maria's death. No one would ever be able to replace Maria in Shadow's heart but Rouge was always good company and they understood each other. They wouldn't butt into the other's business unless directly asked.

"Is this serious, Knuckles?" Rouge asks, still talking into the phone to the red echidna. Her brows are pulled together in worry.

Shadow's left ear twitches.

"Are you sure? Okay, fine. I'll come help but if this isn't as serious as you are making it out to be, so help me." She shakes her head. "Send me the location. I'll be there ASAP."

With that she hung up her phone and turned to look at Shadow. The two stare at one another for a long time before she sighs and looks away. "Looks like Knuckles is going to need a little bit of help." Shadow doesn't speak, merely waits for her to continue. She does. "He's looking for some scientist that is working on some old project from a long time ago or something. Says that the guy has been really sketchy lately. His experiments seemed harmless at first, until he started to kidnap people."

Shadow raises an eyebrow. "Do you need help?"

Rouge shrugs. "Probably not. It's going to be Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Amy. They want a fifth member who can actually fly. Not hover like Tails or sail like Knuckles. I can't begin to imagine why they're letting Amy come along, I bet Sonic is upset about that." She shrugs. Then she crosses her arms to push up her endowed chest a bit out of natural habit rather than flirtation.

Shadow jingles his legs a bit. "Fine."

Rouge nods, more to herself than to Shadow, and turns away. "Keep your phone on you. I'll call if I need any help. Later, Shadow."

Shadow quietly watches her leaving. After she's out of sight, he closes his eyes again, ears twitching. He listens to the sound of rustling leaves, birds chirping the wind blowing. It's a nice warm day. Shadow really needs the shade of the willow to stop from roasting alive in the unforgiving sun.

Rouge makes it to the location specified by Knuckles after about three or four hours of flying. She's the second to arrive. Naturally the first is Sonic. He's laying on his belly looking down at a large compound at the bottom of the large hill their meeting spot takes place. There is an eight foot wall with barbed wire running along the top. Enough Keep Out signs to get the point across and what almost appeared to be a guard tower on all four corners of the building. And the guards had these shiny little objects in their hands that Rouge immediate knew were guns.

The building in the center was relatively large and looked almost like a prison. It looked to be about three stories, but there could be more lower levels. At the north facing side there appeared to be a parking garage that lead out of large gates and onto the main road. Then a short walk into the main structure. There was also a helicopter pad on the opposite side of the compound then the parking garage.

Rouge looks down to see Sonic staring up at her.

"They're going to see you like that, I hope you know," he says, turning to look back at the mini fortress beneath them.

She lowers herself to mimic Sonic. "Did Knuckles tell you I was coming?"

Sonic nods. "Yeah. He said we would need someone to get in through the roof."

Rouge raises an eyebrow. "Okay, so who's going where?"

"You take the roof, work your way down. Knuckles will dig under ground and hit the lowest level and hopefully burrow through and into the building that way, which I'm a bit skeptic about," Sonic says honestly. "Amy and Tails are going to go in through the main floor and split. Amy going down towards Knuckles and Tails going up to meet with you."

Rouge nods. "And you?"

Sonic smiles broadly. "Distraction. I'm going to take out the guards up top and hopefully stop any possible reinforcements."

Rouge whistles. "Are you sure you will need me? I mean this isn't the most complex facility that your self appointed band of do-gooders has ever broke and entered, if you know what I mean?

Sonic's smile disappears. "Yeah, but this one... we expect a lot of prisoners. Plus they have substantial military and political backing."

"What's this doctor researching anyway? I asked Knuckles but he didn't have a lot of information to offer."

Sonic shakes his head. "Not really sure. Tails is the one that found out about this place. All we know is that this group has been kidnapping young women left and right. Took Tails forever to put the data together. They usually got for run-aways and prostitutes. People someone wouldn't notice going missing."

Rouge grins slyly. "A friend of his going missing? One of those special friends that help you out in special circumstances?"

Sonic blinks rapidly, shaking his head. "No! You've got it wrong! They slipped up and took a girl that was of higher social standing. Someone in the media was the one that put it together. That maybe the other mysterious disappearances could somehow be related. Tails investigated from there. That's how we know."

Rouge chuckles dryly. "Oh good, I thought our innocent friend Tails may of had a little confession to make."

Sonic lets out a loud whoosh of air. "Good grief."

The two sit in silence for a long while as they wait for the others to show up. Knuckles is the next to show, then finally Tails and Amy on another of Tail's flying machines, like the Tornado. Naturally they park it far enough away that it'll be hidden and no one would hear or see it coming. Amy caught Sonic in a big ol' bear hug before he could escape and kissed him on the cheek.

"I'm so glad that we got to do this together, eh Sonic? Us, fighting crime once again as a super powerful, unstoppable couple in love!" She gushes. Sonic struggles out of her grip.

"What? No! Uh, can we just do this?"

Knuckles chuckles, nodding. "One thing before we start: Why do you want to come along, Amy?"

The pink hedgehog, who was pouting about being rejected by her love once more, turns to Knuckles. "I just can't sit around while poor innocent girls are being abducted and held captured being forced to do who knows what! It's immoral."

Rouge nods. "I wouldn't necessarily call all of them 'innocent'," she starts but holds up her hands to show she means no harm when the pink hedgehog glares at her, "_but _that doesn't mean they should have to endure whatever form of torture they're being put through down there." Amy nods, glare falling into a worried look. She holds her white gloved hands to her chest.

"I hope everyone is okay," she says softly.

Sonic nods, slamming his fist into his palm on the other hand. "Yeah! Now, let's get this party started. Everyone ready?"

They all nod. Tails the hands out ear pieces to help them keep in contact. Sonic then turns to the mini fortress and darts towards it, disappearing in a flash of a blue blur. He's scaled the wall of one of the towers and is already taking care of one of the many guards.

"That's our cue," Knuckles says, then jumps up and hits the ground digging a hole beneath the surface and vanishing into the darkness.

Rouge, Tails and Amy, hammer in hand, make their way towards the wall. Rouge and Tails fly over while Amy uses her hammer to hit the ground and propel herself into the air and over the wall.

"Oh no!" Amy cries, grabbing the back of her dress where there was a little tare. "Shoot, my dress!"

"Later, Amy! We have a base to liberate," Tails says grabbing her hand and pulling her toward the main structure. Rouge flies ahead toward the roof kicking one of the guards in the face and then knocking him off the building.

Amy and Tails make it in easy, knocking out anyone who gets in their way. They don't like to kill, they will if they must, but now wasn't the time or the place. They split up with a single nod. Amy continued down to the lower levels.

Over the radio, Amy heard Knuckles voice, "Shit! I can't burrow through it. I thought I would be able to, but they got some durable stuff down here."

"I could of told you that, Knucklehead," Sonic says sardonically.

"Shut up Sonic. Amy, how are you doing?" Knuckles asks.

"Fine," Amy says slamming a guard into the wall with her hammer, kicking his gun away from him should he wake back up soon. "Just follow the trail of unconscious bad guys and you'll find me easy!" She grins. "There is only one floor below ground."

"Got it. I'll be there soon."

"Hey, I found some of the prisoners," Rouge says. "And um, does anyone know what these girls all have in common other then the fact that they are all teenagers?"

Tails is the first to respond. "They are all white with blond hair and blue eyes?"

"Yeah," Rouge says, "How'd you know?"

"Because I found a bunch too."

Sonic makes a strange noise. "Okay, weird. We need to clear out this place to make it safe," a pause, someone screaming. It stops. "Then get them out of here."

"Right," came a chorus of replies.

Amy walks down one of the many halls, the entire thing a sterile white; walls floors rooms. Amy opens the nearest door and almost drops her hammer in horror. This room is rather large with the walls lined with medical and surgical equipment. In the center of the room is a giant horizontal pod of sorts. As Amy moves closer, she can see there is a girl inside.

Like the others, she's got long blond hair and if Amy had to guess, she would probably have blue eyes too. But what horrified her more then the fact that she was probably being experiment on, post-attack, but that the young girl was stark naked for the world to oogle at. Amy, a regular fashion loving, girly girl, can't even begin to fathom how someone could be degraded like this.

Anger swells in her chest and she has to turn away. "Tails, there's a girl on the bottom floor. She's in some kind of pod. I don't... I don't know how to get her out." Amy says tersely, anger evident in her voice.

"Uh, okay. I'll come help, make sure that floor is cleared in the meantime."

The clean-up of the base took about a half hour, it really sped up when Sonic entered the building and blind sided all of the remaining guards with his immense speed. Rouge and Knuckles both agreed to tie up all the personnel and guards outside, calling for assistance.

Tails found Amy in the room she specified the young woman being held captive. She was pacing back in forth angrily, hammer in hand, ready to smash the next thing to get in her way. Tails walks closer to the center of the room where in a pod with a large see through window along the front is the young girl that Amy told him about but there was three or four white lab coats placed over the top, hiding the girl inside.

"What's with the coats, Amy?" Tails asks, immediately regretting it when Amy turned a fierce emerald glare on him.

"Does it matter?" she asks darkly.

Tails's tails literally drop like dead weight on the floor. "N-No, sorry Amy."

Amy, suddenly feeling really bad, sighs. "No, I'm sorry Tails. It's just that... this poor girl isn't exactly... clothed."

At first Tails didn't appear to of understood her, then he did and his face grew a bright red and he twisted away from the pod completely. Almost like he had suddenly gained the ability to see through the metal and glass and cloth to the naked girl beneath. He stutter unintellectual babble trying to busy himself.

Amy turns away from her friend, still feeling bad for back talking him. "S-Sorry. Um, Sonic, are you getting those girls out?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Are they..." Amy hesitates.

"Are they what?"

"...dressed?" Amy chews on her bottom lip.

There is a pause. "Yeah, why?"

"N-No reason."

Another pause. "Is there something I should know?"

Amy glances over at Tails, who is working at the top part of the pod where there is a control panel. His stammering has stopped and now he looks focused. She turns away. "It's just... one of the girls... the one I spoke of earlier... isn't exactly wearing anything."

There is a long pause, longer then the last two. Then, "_What?_" Sonic, Knuckles and Rouge all yell at once. Tails yelps, jumping into the air at the sudden yell in his ear. The pod sparks and then opens.

**"Warning. Warning. Unauthorized awakening of Subject 1," **A robotic female voice says. Her voice echoing through the entire building. **"Repeat: Unauthorized awakening of Subject 1. Unsanctioned release of NIDS. Take mandatory precaution. Prolonged expose could be detrimental or even deadly."**

Amy and Tails both jump away from the pod as it pops open, like there was suctioned cups holding the glass to the metal. Cold vaper escapes the pod. Almost like it was frozen inside. A single shock went through the bottom half of the pod, jolting the girl and starting her heart.


	2. Maria

**Author's note: Hm, the story is starting to gain a leg or two. I wonder what I'm going to do with this. Let me know what you think! Enjoy!**

**Warnings: None**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot.**

**Word Count: 2,770**

Maria feels cold and heavy. Her entire body is like a block of ice. These warm waves wash over her. Then slowly but surely, a tingling sensation overcomes her limbs. Starting with her fingers and toes, then her entire hands and feet until her entire body is tingling, like she's slept wrong on her entire body. She's never had her stomach and chest tingle like this before. But she is still unbelievably cold.

"Here," a voice says softly, laying something over Maria. But Maria can't feel it. She feels numb. She tries to move her fingers but it's a lot harder then she remembers. Wait, remember? Maria's brain is so befuddled she can't even recall much. Her name comes to her from a far away place but she isn't able to discern exactly what it is. It's just jumbled up words and letters.

Maria's vision fills with bright pink and she blinks rapidly trying to understand what she sees.

"Can you sit up?" a soft voice asks. It's definitely a girl's voice. Perhaps the pink that Maria sees.

Shakily, Maria forces herself to sit up, her body weak and tired and cold. She blinks her vision clear and the pink takes shape other than the strange pink mass. The first thing Maria notices is big green eyes. Definitely larger then her own. And then she noticed that the girl's hair is pink and then that it's not hair. And then she noticed that this wasn't a normal girl in a pretty red dress. This girl was a hedgehog. And her pink "hair" is actually pressed down quills. They go to her shoulders like hair.

Two triangle ears sat atop her head with a red headband. They both twitch toward Maria.

"Are you okay?"

Maria, mouth dry like cotton, nods solemnly. She tries to swallow but it scratches her throat and makes her uncomfortable. Her arms tremble trying to support her weight. There is a burning sensation along her limbs from the mere movement alone. As her limbs begin to wake up, the prickling definitely starts to ebb away.

"I'm Amy," the pink hedgehog says.

Maria opens her mouth but only a strange horse noise escapes. Her jaws clamp closed. A sweet smile passes over Amy's face.

"It's okay, don't speak. I don't know what those bad guys were doing to you but don't worry. It's all over now, okay?" Amy blinks slowly, sincerity in her voice. Maria couldn't really understand what she's saying. Bad guys? Doing to her? What was over? Even though her body is adjusting-albeit slowly- to being awake again, her mind is still behind.

Amy proceeds to help her put a white lab coat on her shoulders, now Maria is aware of the chill in the air, and buttoned up the front to hide her body behind it. Bumps dance across her flesh, making her shiver. The young blond girl jingles her legs, trying to wake them up. After a few minutes, Amy helps her up but it's a little weird considering that the pink hedgehog was under half her height, but they managed.

Maria couldn't stand all that well. She lowers her self, or flops down gracelessly, whatever, on the cold floor. Her skin chilling at the touch alone and Maria shivers again.

"Hi there." Maria looks up to see an upright animal, all yellow with a white stomach and shoes on, with two large fox tails. "I'm Miles. Everyone calls me Tails."

Maria smiles at his light, airy voice. It's gentle and soft like a warm breeze. It's nice. She smiles lightly and nods, bringing a hand up slowly and curl her fingers slightly in a little wave.

"Do you know how you got here?" Amy asks.

Maria pauses, trying to recall the last thing she remembers. A hall, she was... running down a hall. All of the walls were white and the floor was smooth, plain and hard beneath the soles of her shoes. She trips and falls, scrapes her knee, but she's too excited. She climbs to her feet and keeps going. She almost knocks over a bunch of people. At least two or three. Some call out to her, but Maria can't remember what they said, or even if she heard them.

She stops in front of a door, there's a plaque on the right side. There's a name branded in gold and glued to a block of wood. Maria doesn't read it, she's read it so many times. She pushes a blue button beneath it. The door opens up with a hiss and she goes inside. Maria runs up to the huge observation window directly across from the door. She puts her hand on the thick oak of the desk next to her as she stares down in wonder at the gathered scientists, all standing around in the room below her. And the small thing that lays prone on the table in the center of the room.

It's too tiny for her to tell exactly what it is, but she can tell that it's a tiny black mass. One of the scientists, glances up at her and smiles faintly. He reaches out and touches another man's shoulder. No, that's her grandpa. Maria can't think of his name. Her grandpa looks up at her and waves her down.

Maria turns to the left, a glass door separates her grandpa's office and the stairs leading down to the lab. She rushes down the steel stairs and works her way through the thong of gathered scientists. Making her way closer and closer to the table and her grandpa.

The blond haired girl blinks slowly as the memory fades. Nothing in that memory tells her where she is or how she got here. A quick glance around the room shows her it's not the lab that her grandpa owned or worked in. She has no idea where she is.

She shakes her head slowly.

"It's okay," Tails says. "The police are on their way, you'll be home soon."

"Um, hello?" Maria hears a voice behind Tails and Amy. "Did you two miss the part about the NIDS?"

Amy rolls her eyes. "Oh Rouge," she turns slightly, looking over her shoulder at the white bat. "You can't get NIDS from physical contact."

Rouge leans heavily on one hip, shaking her head. Sonic rounds the corner and walks into the room. He pauses to look at Rouge. "We met a girl with NIDS before. She became a friend of ours."

The white bat looks away, shaking her head. "If you wanna sign your death warrant, don't let me stop you." With that she turns and makes her way back outside to help Knuckles evacuate the girls.

Tails smiles softly at Maria, reaching out to touch her shoulder. "I'm going to go. I'm glad you're alright." He stands and heads over to Sonic, "I'm going to go help out Knuckles and Rouge, okay?"

Sonic nods. "Sure thing, thanks Tails." He turns to Amy and the figure sitting in front of her. He can see the lab coat wrapped around her, held together by her hand gripping the two sides. He moves to stand by Amy's side, keeping his eyes on her face, also noting that like all of the other girls, she has long blond hair and big blue eyes. But the base wide warning called her Subject One. Not just anyone gets that sort of title. Among the captured personnel and guards, the doctor wasn't one of them, which means he's still out there.

"Don't worry," Sonic says, kneeling down in front of the girl. "We'll find the people who did this to you, I promise." He smiles and gives her a thumbs up. Amy smiles a bit and steps away to give Sonic some room.

Maria blinks very slowly, trying to focus on the blue hedgehog but she keeps seeing red streaks on his quills. They are so familiar to Maria. But then they fade away. Except the one on his forehead. Maria reaches out, her hand shaking slightly and touches the streak on the top of his head. Sonic raises an eyebrow at the feathery light touch.

"Uh?"

Maria blinks again and the streak, like all the others, is gone. She jerks her hand away, light pink dusting her pale cheeks. "I'm sorry," she croaks, then clears her throat flinching in pain.

"Don't... worry about it," Sonic says, his hand reaches up to touch the top of his head. "I'm Sonic, by the way."

Maria opens her mouth and croaks, once more, "Maria."

Sonic smiles lightly. "Maria, that's a pretty name. So, Maria, can you tell us anything about what happened here?"

Maria shakes her head. "I... don't even know where... here is." She clears her throat, flinching slightly. Her hand comes up and touches her throat.

Amy looks around. "I'm going to go see if I can get my hands on some water, alright, Maria?" The small blond nods gratefully. Amy hustles out of the room. Sonic and Maria sit in silence, looking around the room at anything but each other. Maria keeps thinking back to those streaks of red. A blue hedgehog with red streaks on the quills? Had she seen someone like that before?

No, the quills and fur were darker. A dark blue? No, darker. Black. Black fur and quills with red streaks. And the eyes? Maria's brain hurts. She reaches up and rubs her temples, trying to clear out the foggy vision in her head.

"Are you okay, Maria?" Sonic asks.

"A hedgehog," Maria says, rubbing her temples harder, eyes squeezing shut. "A hedgehog with black fur."

Sonic blinks. "You mean Shadow?"

_"Come meet your new friend, Maria. Come meet Shadow."_

A small bundle on a large linoleum table. A small black mass with red streaks. It's a hedgehog. Maria can see it vividly in her mind's eye. She had to be lifted, she was too short. She reached out and touched the small red streak on the top of his little head.

"Shadow..." Maria whispers, eyes falling half lidded. "My Shadow... do you know him?"

Sonic looks perplexed. "I do. How do you know him? I thought Shadow didn't like people all that much."

Now Maria looks confused. "I've known Shadow... ever since he was born. Grandpa made him for me... to be my best friend." Maria smiles lightly at the memory of the tiny bundle, small and delicate. He was her best friend. Her only friend, really. And she loved him very much. Just the thought of him is enough to bring a smile to her face.

"Wait," Sonic says, shifting closer to look at the blond haired girl, as if he's suddenly seeing her in a new life. "You knew Shadow when he was born?" Maria nods, dazedly. Her stare is far away and glazed, still stuck in the memory. "Oh boy, what was this wacko doing?" Sonic mumbles to himself, lowering his gaze to the stark white floor. "I pity the fool who has to encure Shadow's wrath. Especially if you're _that _Maria."

"Sorry, Maria," Amy says, walking into the room. Her sole focus is on the small dixie cup filled to the rim with water. "Will this little cup do?"

Maria nods slowly. Accepting the small cup and draining the contents in moments. The cool water felt heavenly against her dry throat. "Thank you, Amy."

"Yeah," Amy beams, then notices the hard look on Sonic's face. "What's wrong, Sonic?"

The blue hedgehog climbs to his feet. "Look after her, Amy. I got to go make sure everyone is okay. Keep her here."

"Okay, but why?" Sonic doesn't respond, just makes his way to the door. Amy shoots a quick glance at the blond haired girl, her eyes half lidded, lips parted in a silent yawn. She runs over to Sonic to catch him before he leaves the room. "Sonic, what happened? What's wrong?"

Sonic pauses, considering. "I need to think about some stuff. That doctor had to be studying the NIDS, using Maria. But that doesn't explain why he kidnapped all of those girls that look like Maria." With that Sonic turns and continues on his way out the door and down the hall. Amy pauses for a long time, looking after where the blue hedgehog went.

When she finally turned back to Maria, the girl is curled up on the floor, sleeping. Amy crosses her arms over her small chest and walks back over to the slumbering form. She lowers herself next to Maria and gazes around the room, shuttering when her eyes land on bags filled with blood inside of a mini fridge. Amy's attention snaps back to the slumbering girl.

"I don't know what's going on, but don't you worry, Maria. Sonic will look after you. He's a real good hedgehog, trust me," she smiles and reaches out with a white gloved hand to pet down the flat blond locks. "Everything will be okay."

Maria shifts slightly, eyes moving behind closed eyelids.

Sonic looks out one of the many windows in the lobby to see all the girls, huddled in groups as officers are loading them into the back of police cars and ambulance vehicles. Now there are some police guarding the personnel and guards. Sonic crosses his arms over his chest and taps his foot irritably. Why is it that the bad guys always got to be so complex? Why does there got to be bad guys at all?

Admittedly Sonic does enjoy the little bit of thrill that thwarting Doctor Eggman's many plans at world domination. He enjoys the thrill, the challenge, up until innocent people get caught in the crossfire. That just irks Sonic to no end afterward.

Sonic glances back at the elevator that leads down to the bottom floor. The floor that contains Amy and Subject One, Maria. This Maria that knows Shadow. Shadow, who would look off in the distance and whisper "Maria" under his breath. The same Shadow that can't open up to people because of the tragedy at the Space Colony ARK.

Something doesn't add up. Didn't Shadow's Maria die when the Colony exploded? In all reality, even if she didn't die in the initial explosion, the vaccum of space would have pulled her away, right? Unless she got to another escape pod... but still, she would be over fifty years old now, right? So, that girl looked like she was in her teens. Maybe 13-15 years old.

What is Sonic not seeing? Is it really wise to bring this up to Shadow? The two already have a very shaky relationship. There are multitudes of different ways this could blow up in the blue hedgehog's face should he make the wrong choices. Telling Shadow that Maria was here, only for it to not be the right Maria would do nothing wonderful for their relationship, while at the same time if by some miracle this _is _the girl that Shadow has been pinning over for as long as he's been reawakened, and he finds out that Sonic knew there was a chance she was the girl Shadow's been looking for. The repercussions could be... detrimental. And destructive. Both of which Sonic isn't looking forward too. He has to be very cautious.

And who best to figure out Shadow and the possible way he would react than the one that has been with him for the last few years? With his mind made up, Sonic straightens and heads out the door and toward the white bat standing between Knuckles and Tails.

The trio look up at him when he walks up.

"Where's Amy?" Knuckles asks.

Sonic looks at the red echidna. "She's looking after our friend in the basement." He looks over at Rouge and crosses his arms once more. "You and I need to talk."

"About?" Rouge mimics him, crossing her arms, eyebrow raised.

"About Shadow," Sonic says, staring into her eyes. "And that human girl from the ARK, Maria."


End file.
